At a 20 dollar price tag, it’s one of the most affordable and deep fighting game experiences the indiesphere has to offer. It’s more like the difference between Street Fighter two and three than two and turbo. The game is just different enough to really make it feel like a totally new experience. You might think that it’s not worth picking up Lethal League Blaze if you already picked up the original, but you’d be wrong. There’s online leaderboards and ranked play using netcode that is smooth as silk in 1v1.Theres an arcade mode, a training mode, an in-depth tutorial, a gallery, and tons of extra content to unlock. It has extra gameplay modes such as a “break the targets” mode, and a mode that changes the rules to something reminiscent of volleyball. It has a story mode complete with multiple campaigns and branching paths. However, it’s suite of modes actually rivals most AAA fighting games. If Lethal League Blaze simply had a versus mode and some online modes, it would be doing much more than most indie fighting games on the market. One of its characters, Jet, is specifically a Jet Set Radio reference, rollerblades and all. In fact, Lethal League Blaze has a lot in common with Jet Set Radio. Sound familiar? That Hideki Naganuma, the famed composer of the Jet Set Radio franchise, composing bops for a new generation of indie games. If you haven’t heard the title track “funky fresh beats” then listen to it now. The screen shakes, the background comes alive, and the world feels like it’s falling apart before the ball goes rocketing off at high speeds.Īssisting all of this is the game’s fantastic soundtrack. However, high speed hits sound like an explosion. Early on the ball is batted around with dull thuds and metallic clangs. Part of the reason why Lethal League Blaze is so much fun is because its aesthetics really enforce its mechanics. This culminates with a player taking a mach speed ball to the face, losing a life, and starting this roller coaster of tension all over again. They stop jumping around as much and start backing into corners, protecting themselves and desperately throwing out safe moves. However, as the ball starts to ramp up in speed to the point where it’s hard to even see, players become defensive. It’s an offensive ballet that rivals any of the best platform fighters. In the early game, players attempt to chip away at each other’s health with trick shots and sneaky maneuvering. The result is a fantastic back and forth that slowly builds tension. Otherwise you can only interrupt its momentum temporarily with bunts and other special moves. The ball’s momentum only resets if someone dies.
If you get hit by the ball you take damage in proportion to how fast the ball is moving. Now, characters have a more traditional health bar as well as a set of lives. However, that resulted in a lot of quick and unsatisfying matches, so the system has been tweaked for Blaze. Originally the game took a minimalist sort of approach, making every hit a one-touch kill. You even have supers that allow you to perform tricks with the ball, like send it curving through the air or teleporting through portals. You have moves that make it go faster, moves that catch it, moves that suddenly stop its momentum, and moves that change its trajectory. Your assorted fighting games moves are all about manipulating the ball. If you get hit by a ball of any color but your own, you take damage. Doing so imbues the ball with your color of energy, meaning it can’t hurt you, but can hurt anyone else. Your goal is to maneuver around a stage to hit a floating ball at the opponent. The result of this formula is a sort of high speed death pong. In Lethal League’s case, it was hitting around a ball. but you would use them for something else. What if you had a fighting game where you couldn’t directly attack the opponent? You would have the same variety of moves and strikes that you’d find in a game like Smash Bros. The concept behind Lethal League Blaze is surprisingly simple.
If you are looking for a rags to riches story, Lethal League Blaze fits the description perfectly.
#LETHAL LEAGUE BLAZE FUNKY FRESH BEATS FULL#
Now, six years later, Team Reptile has overhauled the game, replacing the simple flash based sprite graphics with full 3D models, and working with absolute behemoths of game design and composing. It actually started as a flash game that started making the rounds at fighting game tournaments back in 2012, but it was so popular with the fighting game crowd that it’s developers, Team Reptile, eventually came together to create a full release.
You’d be forgiven if you missed the original release of Lethal League back in 2014. Ain’t nothing like a funky beat! Tangentially, ain’t nothing like a long awaited sequel to a truly innovative indie fighting game.